After a few failed attempts at legalizing hiking the Manitou Incline over the years, the process has finally moved farther than it has in the past. Nearly $100,000 is being spent to study how to make the Incline safer, reduce erosion and to deal with traffic and parking issues on Ruxton Avenue. Colorado Springs Utilities is also concerned about the water pipeline that runs along the Manitou Incline.
Hiking the Manitou Incline has continued to grow more popular even though it’s illegal. The U.S. Forest Service has estimated that 70,000 people use the Incline annually.
At a Manitou Springs council meeting that I was at a little over ago, councilman Ed Klingman said making the Incline legal and having a plan would “move it from an unmanaged hassle to a managed hassle.” Spencer Wren, General Manager of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, said the Incline was a huge problem for them. He said they were stopping hikers in their parking lot but they would just go up to the Barr Trail parking lot.
This Thursday evening there will be a meeting to get public input on the Manitou Incline. It will be held at Manitou Springs City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue, from 7 to 9 PM. Manitou Springs also has a project page with more information and maps of the Manitou Incline.
One of the solutions I’ve heard is to have several places to park with trails connecting to the bottom of the Incline. When I asked Aimee Cox, the project manager about it she said, “We’re still in the information-gathering phase. Connecting trails has been suggested, but again, no recommendations are being made at this point. We’re trying to collect good ideas.”
The following additional public meetings will be hosted in July at Manitou Springs City Hall.
- July 13th – Traffic and Parking Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
- July 14th – Trails and Trailhead Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
- July 15th – Management and Operations Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
The planning process is funded by Great Outdoors Colorado and the Hill Family Foundation. The final plan will be presented to the Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs City Councils in February 2011.
For more information, please contact Aimee Cox at 719-385-6532 or aicox@springsgov.com.
THE INCLINE IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND POSTED NO TRESPASSING. PUBLIC ACCESS ON THE INCLINE IS NOT ALLOWED. TRESPASSING ON THE INCLINE IS ILLEGAL.
– UltraRob
Related Links
- Is Manitou Incline Finally Close to Being Legal?
- Snowy Night Hike
- Sports Illustrated Mentions the Manitou Incline
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Tags: Colorado Springs, hiking, Manitou Incline
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It blows my mind how much money they blow on these studies…
I hope the question at this point is just how to implement it, and the discussion whether to legalize it or not is over. Given the daily traffic on it, it seems pretty obvious that keeping it illegal is rather pointless.
[…] Manitou Incline Public Access Meetings […]
found this posted on facebook…
Might give you an idea how we residents feel about the traffic and the trash and the blocked fire hydrants…
“You know, there’s a story here. The Gazette runs a piece now and then about the heroes and heroines who run the incline and their “struggle” to have the thing officially opened to the public, ya da, ya da, ya da. The behind the scenes story is of the property owners and other townspeople who have to put up with the droppings of 50,000 slobs every month. I’ll bet the Gazette would write and run it, with a picture of the parking problems and trash”